Cushioning means for draft gears and the like



L. B. .JONES GUSHIONING MEANS FOR DRAFT GEARS AND THE LIKE OriginalFiled Sept. 27, 1941 M. Ffa L INVENTOR;

,l/agi i Jo'ieS, c f ATTORNE.

Patented July 23, 1946 CUSHIONING MEANS FR DRAFT GEARS AND THE LIKE l iLloyd B. `iones, Hollidaysburg, Pa., assigner to The PennsylvaniaRailroad Company, Philadelphia, Fa., a corporation of PennsylvaniaOriginal application September 27, 1941, Serial No. 412,615, now PatentNo. 2,322,642, dated June 22, 1943.

Divided and this application Merch 4, 1943, serian No. 477,948

3 Claims.

This invention relates to cushioning means useful more particularly inconnection with the draft gears of railway cars, the present applicationbeing a division of a copending application, Serial No. 412,615, led byme on September 27, 1941, which application issued as Patent Number2,322,642 on June 22, 1943.

My invention has for its chief aims to effectively prevent thetransmission of high-frequency Vibrations, originating in draft gears,to the car bodies, and to attain this objective with absence ofobjectionable grating noises such as ordinarily attend the operation ofdraft gears.

Another aim of my invention is to secure the above advantages in acompact self-contained cushioning unit which can be substituted instandard draft gears in place of the usual types, without necessitatingany changes whatever in the construction of the draft gears orinterfering with their normal mode of operation; and in which the shocksare absorbed by resilient elements of rubber or the like acting incompression as well as in shear when subjected to load. Thus, advantageis taken of the well known characteristics of rubber which has superiorwork absorption qualities in shear as compared with pure compression.

How the foregoing and other objects and important advantages can bereadily realized in practice will appear from the following descriptionof the attached drawing, wherein Fig. l is a fragmentary view inhorizontal section of a conventional railway car draft gear in which apair of my improved cushioning units is incorporated.

Fig. 2 is a cross section of the organization taken as indicated by theangled arrows II--II in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail view corresponding to Fig. 1 drawn to alarger scale.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are perspective views of certain of the component partsof one of the cushioning units.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of these illustrations, the usual laterally spaced sidechannels of the center sill of a standard form of railway car areindicated at Ill and Il, the yoked draw bar of the draft gear at I2, andthe draft stop castings at I3 and Ill, the latter being rigidly securedto the innerfaces respectively of said sill channels either by rivetingor welding.

The cushioning units of my invention, each designated comprehensively bythe reference character I 5 in Figs. 1 and 2, are proportioned to fitinto the transversely aligned pocket recesses 2 I 6, lil respectivelyYof the draft stop Castings I 3 and l l generally in the same manner asthe metallic spring type buffer units heretofore ordinarily employed. Asshown, each cushioning unit I5 includes a multiplicity of rigidT-section pressure bars I8 of which the tongues have their opposite sidefaces roughened or corrugated as best seen in Figs. 3` and 4, said barsbeing preferably of metal and'arranged in pairs of opposing rows orgroups with the tongues of the bars of one group extending intoclearance intervals between the head flanges of the bars of the othergroup. Lodged between the tongues of adjacent reversely positionedpressure bars I8 of the Opposing groups are smooth-surfaced plainsection elongateresilient bars or slabs IS of rubber or the like, one ofwhich latter is separately illustrated in perspective in Fig. 5, saidbars I9, having their opposite longitudinal edges abutting the shouldersafforded by the head fianges of such adjacent pressure bars. From Fig. 1it will be seen that a rigid separator plate 20, preferably of metal, isinterposed between each row of opposing pressure bars I8 and associatedresilient slabs I9 and that the whole pack is snugly enclosed in atubular housing element 2l (Fig. 6) which is rectangular in crosssection and aligned in the direction of draft. The casing member 2l isclosed at the op.. posite ends by cover plates 22 and 23, which, likethe separator plates 2Q, are capable of free movement within saidhousing. The cushioning units l5 can be withdrawn downwardly, togetherwith the draw bar I2, from between the draft stop castings l 3 and E4upon removal of the usual retaining plate 25 which is bolted to thebottom flanges of the center sill channels I0 and II. As shown eachhousing element 2l is disposed in an opening of the yoke bar I2 and hasits protruding side portions fitting between the shoulders of oppositerecesses I6 in the stop castings I3.

With the parts constructed and arranged as described, it will be seenthat as pull is induced in the draw bar I2, for example from the left inFig. 1, the housing cover plates 23 of the two serially positionedcushioning units I5 will be obliged to follow suit. This movement willbe yieldingly resisted through coaction of the opposing pressure barslll of the several layers with the respectively associated resilientslabs I9, and the shock progressively transmitted from one layer to thenext in each unit through the medium of the separator plates 2li untilit is nally absorbed. On the other hand, when the draw bar I2 is drawnto the right in Fig. 1, the movement will be gradually absorbed in* alike manner, through yoke opening in the side faces of the tongues ofadjacent opposed rigid bars I8 in the several rows and placed in shear,the resistance offered varying proportionately to the degree of pressureimposed.V The cushioning units I5 will thus operate silently inpreventing the transmission to the car body of sudden shocks and noisescaused by spasmodicV movements of the draft gear.

While I have herein shown the barsA I8 and YI9 as being verticallyarranged, they may, if desired or found more convenient in practice behorizontally placed without sacrifice of any of the advantageshereinbefore pointed out.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1; Cushioning means for use'in a draft gear having a yoked draft bar andpairs of longitudinally spaced stop shoulders arranged alongoppositesides of the draft bar in xed relation to the underframe of thecar, said cushioning means comprising a tubular housing element alignedin the direction 0f draft and disposed within the yoke opening in thedraft bar with the projecting side portions thereof fitting into theintervals between the respective pairs of stop shoulders and therebyheld against movement in the assembly; cover plates slidable within andclosing the opposite ends of the housing element and adapted to beabutted by the opposite end surfaces ofthe 4 draft bar; and resilientmeans comprising a plurality of compacted, compressible and interveningrigid elements which are separable both longitudinally and transverselyof the center sill interposed between said end plates Within the housingto maintain said plates `yieldingly in engagement normally with therespective stop shoulders of the respective pairs.

2. The invention according to claim 1, wherein Vtine resilient meansincludes groups of opposingly-'arranged rigid pressure bars of T crosssection having tongues with roughened side faces, the tongues of onegroup extending into clearance intervals between the head flanges of thebars of .the other group; and elongate slabs of rubber orthe likeindividually positioned between the tongues of adjacent pressure bars ofthe two groups with their longitudinal edges overlapped by the headflanges of the adjacent bars and with their side faces contacting thecontiguous side faces of the tengues of such adjacent bars.

3. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the resilient meansincludes a transverse row of vertically-positioned opposingly-arrangedgroups of rigid pressure bars of T cross section having tongues withroughened sides, the tongues of one group extending into clearanceintervals between the head anges of the bars of the other group; andelongate slabs of rubber or the like positioned between the tongues ofadjacent bars of the two groups with their longitudinal edges overlappedrespectively by the head flanges of the adjacent bars and with theirside faces contacting the contiguous side faces of such bars.

LLOYD B. JONES.

